What Can the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Do to Improve America’s Mental Health System?

The Bipolar Burble blog welcomes guest poster Michael Cahill of Vista Health Solutions. Michael discusses the critical implications of the Affordable Care Act for people with mental illnesses.

Since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, America has put funding for mental health treatment on the back burner. Consequently, mental health services and facilities nationwide have suffered.

In the wake of tragedies like Aurora and Sandy Hook, the government is now determined to address the issue of mental health policy in the United States, which will be no easy task.

What will surely go a long way towards helping those suffering from a mental illness will be getting them access to treatment and making that treatment affordable. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the high cost of mental health care is the number one culprit for people not getting treatment. Even those with health insurance often have significant limitations on their access to mental health services.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes more commonly referred to as Obamacare, has great potential to improve access to mental health treatment and make it affordable. Here are five ways it can do it:

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